belcher



G. G. BELCHER, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JOS.S. HILL, OF SAME PLAGE.

PRUNING-KNIFE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 23,975, dated May 10, 1859.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, G. G. BELcHER, of Worcester, in the county ofWorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and ImprovedPruning Knife; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which-Figure l represents an elevation of a knife constructed according to myinvention, when open. Fig. 2 is a similar elevation of the same whenclosed down. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal vertical section of ditto.

Similar letters of reference in the three views indicate correspondingparts.

The object of this invention is to make the blade of the knife perfectlyrigid with the handle when the knife is opened, while the same is soarranged that it can be opened and closed quite easily, and withoutdanger of cutting the fingers, and the invention consists lin connectingthe blade with the handle in such a manner that by taking hold of thelower half of the blade, and by turning the upper half, the blade isopened or closed and the two part-s of the handle are secured togetherby means of a slide which is attached to one part and which catches intoan eye in the other part of the handle, so that the knife can only beopened or closed after this slide has been withdrawn.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

The handle of the knife is constructed of two parts A and A in the usualmanner, and each part consists of a plate a or a of sheet metal, whichare united by a pivot Z9, which is firmly secured in the plate a, butwhich turns easily in the plate a', and between the two plates a a', andfastened to the pivot b is the blade B, and the two plates a a are keptapart by a piece c,

which is secured to the end of the plate a',

as clearly represented in Fig. 3, and an eye (Z which projects from thepiece c extends through an opening c in the plate a, and a slide C whichslides on the top of the plate a, catches into the eye Z and by thesemeans the two parts are secured together. Each of the plates a a iscovered with wood or horn or any suitable substance in the usual mannerand these covers c e are considerable shorter than the plates, and thecover c of the plate a is provided with a groove f which forms the guidefor the slide C. The slide C is attached to, and operated by a metalhead g, and a similar head g is rigidly attached to the plate a close tothe cover e, se that, when the slide is down both sides of the knifehave exactly the same appearance.

Each of the plates a a is provided with a half circular slot L, bothdescribed from the center of the pivot b, and one exactly above theother, and two pins z' i are fastened in the blade B on opposite sidesof the blade and equally distant from the pivot b, one below and theother one above this pivot, and the pin z' works in the slot h of theupper plate a', while the pin z" works in the corresponding slot of theplate a and by referring to Fig. l in the drawing it will be noticedthat the pin i opposes the turning of the blade B in thedirection ofarrow 1, and the pin z" the turning of the same in the direction ofarrow 2, and when the knife is closed as represented in Fig. 2 the pinz' opposes the turning of the blade in the direction of arrow 3, and thepin z" the turning of the same in the direction of arrow 4, so that inboth cases the blade is perfectly rigid in its position.

The operation is as follows In order to open the knife the slide C isdrawn up until it clears the eye cl, and the u per part A of the handleis sprung up suiciently so that the opening c clears the eye CZ, and thepart A of the handle is turned in the direction of arrow 3, and as thelower end of the slot L in the plate a strikes against the pin z' theblade B is turned out and by the time the part A of the handle has beenturned all the way round, the blade B is opened and in a positionrepresented in Fig. l, and after the part A has been sprung over the eyed, and the slide C depressed the blade is perfectly rigid in itsposition as above described. In order to close the knife the slide C iswithdrawn and the upper part A of the handle is turned in the directionof arrow 5 (Fig. l)

and theJ blade willbe turned down again by When it is opened, as Well aswhen it is closed, substantially as herein set forth.

3. The slide C or its equivalent arranged in combination With the Aejyed for the purpose of securing the two parts of the handle together,substantially, in the manner described.

G. G. BELCHER.

Witnesses WM. HENRY HoWE, B. R. LEWIS.

